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Our Mission

My main goal is to provide you and your business with elegant ways in representing your work. Sure business cards and fliers are fine to give to customers and potential clients; however give them a complimentary item that will not end up in the nearest trash can.

Think Pink Month

Monday, February 28, 2011

Life Changing Books, better known as LCB, established in 2003 is quickly becoming one of the most respected Independent Trade Publishers amongst chain stores, vendors, authors and readers. LCB offers a variety of African-American literature including Contemporary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Urban/Street Literature, Erotica, and a host of other fiction categories.

CEO, Azarel, launched the company with the release of her self-published title, A Life to Remember, and from there she has continued to add best selling authors onto her label. Currently, LCB has sixteen authors and offers outside distribution to selective projects. The success of LCB is a team effort combined with our outgoing authors, and management team.

As of 2008, LCB has joined forces and constructed progressive relationships with both wholesale and retail establishments across the United States of America and abroad. We’ve topped the charts with some of our Essence Magazine best-selling titles such as Millionaire Mistress, Secrets of a Housewife, Bruised 2, and Deep. In addition, LCB is progressive in contributing to children in need. Visit the Life Changing Books Website: http://www.lifechangingbooks.net/

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

YOUR DREAMSI’m sure we all can remember as young ladies growing up, how we had dreams that we wanted to fulfill. We would often fantasize about them, we would share our dreams with our bestie and at times we would make efforts to make our dreams a reality. Now that we’ve grown up a bit and as we look back at our past experiences, some of those dreams are still futuristic, some of them are closer than before, some of those dreams are fulfilled and some of those dreams have been snatched away. Futuristic Dreams: For those dreams that are still futuristic, I want to encourage you to continue to press forward until you see the fulfillment of those dreams. Keep speaking positively over them as you move closer to their completion. Remember that there is power in your words and you can actually have what you say. So keep saying it until you see it. Keep applying the works that are needed to see it come to pass. In order for a dream to surface into reality, it requires effort, courage, tenacity, stamina and speaking positively over it no matter what.Dreams are closer, but not yet fulfilled: For those dreams that are closer than before, keep doing what you’re doing, but intensify it so that it can reach fulfillment as well. Whatever you do, don’t give up on your dreams. Your dreams are a part of you, so to give up on your dreams is like giving up on you. Roll up your sleeves and move forward.Snatched Dreams: Sometimes during the course of our lives there are a series of events that may cause us to lose sight of our dreams and/or for our dreams to be snatched away. Sometimes our dreams are snatched away because of the people we have allowed in our lives. Instead of continuing to follow our dreams, we allowed them to talk us out of our own. This may mean you may need to severe the ties and begin dreaming again. Surround yourself with those who are desiring to do things that are similar to your own dreams. Dust off your dreams and begin going after them!Completed Dreams: For those dreams that you have completed, I must congratulate you on your hard efforts. It is such a blessing when you have completed something you have deeply desired to achieve. Now that you’ve completed one dream, it’s time to work on the next set of dreams you’ve been dwelling on. It’s not over for you, you have just begun.As long as we have breath in our body, our dreams continue to flow and grow. So today as we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I encourage you to continue dreaming. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream that was life changing for many people even after his death. The dream is still alive and so is the dream inside of you. If you would like to post something on this blog entry, please do so by sharing some of your dreams and/or expressing encouraging words to the readers about the importance of working towards the fulfillment of their dreams.I encourage you to dream again! Dust off those dreams and do what is necessary to cause them to become realities.About the AuthorStephanie McKenny is a licensed minister who resides in South Carolina. She has written one novel and three non-fiction books. She facilities a yearly women’s retreat (dates for 2011 are May 19-21, 2011) and has recently started her own self-publishing company (J & J Publishing). Visit her website at: www.stephaniemckenny.com for more information.

About the BookIs Mr. Right…Really Right? Some women are caught off guard when they finally find out Mr. Right isn’t so right after all. By then, their heart, mind, and body are already ensnared by an unhealthy relationship.Relationships are what keep us all connected. Every woman wants a man of her own whether she wants to admit to it or not. We all have an innate desire to love and be loved. However, there are some relationships we should never entertain. Every man that comes into your life doesn’t necessarily deserve access to your heart.This book is filled with sister wisdom that brings awareness to healthy and unhealthy relations, exposing unhealthy characteristics in men and pointers n helping you become the woman God intended for you to be.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Samara King began her literary journey at the age of twelve years old while sneaking to the back of the library and indulging in romance novels; soon after, she wrote her own! She has penned three novels and eleven novellas all within the multicultural erotic romance genre, as well as two poetry collections. Her first collection, The Ebony Kryptonite was published in November 2010 and will be followed by The Naked The Bare. She has been published by Cobblestone Press, Changeling Press, Loose Id, and Total-e-Bound.

Currently she is working on her next SK MINI project under her self-publishing company, Samara King Books or SKB. She recently become a columnist for The Urban Source Magazine. Her column, Real Talk with Samara King will launch in January 2011.

Samara lives in Chicago with her teenage son, where she encounters new adventures every day that service her in the creation of each of her stories!

Club Owner Belinda Gilles has come a long way since the little lost girl from Leimert Park who’d married millionaire Brandon Forde she once was. Now a wealthy widow and independent businesswoman, Belle has finally left her past behind her and severed ties that had left her with nothing but a broken heart. During a chance encounter with a masked stranger during the annual Grown & Sexy masquerade ball, Belle gives in to a soul-stirring passion that reawakes a lust, she’d long thought gone. Now a year, later that unquenchable lust has only intensified as Belle hopes to come face to face with her mystery lover. She could have never suspected for her past and present to collide in one heart pounding moment and losing her soul in the next.

Wounded soul, Jordan Harris knows all about fate and the game of chance. His whole life had been turned around and altered the moment he entered an alley and witnessed the death of his best friend. The stain of the past was neither one he could never erase nor the memory of Belle, the woman he’d always loved. When chance brought them back into each other’s lives, will Jordan walk away or reach for the first glimpse of redemption?

Interview with Samara King

﻿Why did you become a writer? I love creating characters, learning new things and people watching and my plots/characters are birthed from these elements.

When did you know you wanted to publish a book? I knew when I started writing seriously for publication and had the hunger within to see my book in another person’s hands.

Why did you pick the genre that you write? I’ve been reading romance novels since I was in 8th grade and I love the genre, I’m a romantic J

If you could write in any other genre what would it be? I write multi-genres: paranormal, suspense, contemporary, etc.

What is your writing process? It depends on the project. However, I definitely start with character first, picture browsing, reading, etc. and progress to character profiles.

How long did it take you to write your current book? It took about 6 weeks.

What mistakes have you made with this book that you will be sure to correct next time? I think I will not overcomplicate details, lol. In shorter fiction, you try not to leave anything out and I try very hard to do that.

When do you feel most comfortable in your writing zone? When the characters are so vivid that I can close my eyes and see them.

Who is your favorite author? Brenda Jackson Favorite book? I love all her work.

What books are you currently reading? I have not had the time to crack open a book for the last two months but working on rectifying that soon JWhat advice do you have for those who are looking to publish their first book? Stay true to your voice, keep honing your craft and never stop learning

~a woman with a visionwww.tamikanewhouse.comwww.twitter.com/tamikanewhouse

I have to do what’s best for me……Has been Dionni’s new motto since that horrible night when she found her finance Dale entangled between the legs of her best friend Eva. Enraged and torn; Dionni goes on a hiatus trying to get as far away from Las Vegas as possible to clear her mind and get her heart back in order.

Her much needed vacation was interrupted once Dionni was informed that Tiana, her other best friend was found raped and beaten and now in a coma and was in need of constant care. Being the only family that Tiana has; Dionni has to return home to face her past while trying to put the shattered pieces of her life back together.

Twisted, the highly anticipated sequel to Over and Over Again will explain if the demons of Dionni’s past will allow her to be free; or will they continue to keep her twisted.

Excerpt – I removed my Armani Exchange sunglasses and extended my left hand to take a good look at my ring finger. I was in love with my two carat, sky blue diamond, platinum engagement ring that Dale gave me when he proposed to me.

The ring he gave me just hours before I went on a high speed chase with a damn near empty gas tank through the city of North Las Vegas chasing him and his chick of the moment. The same ring that he gave me before he knew that Ashley, his mistress from the garage was pregnant. The same ring that he gave me despite of the secret love affair that I discovered that him and Eva, my supposedly best friend was entangled in.

Yea, I was oh so in love with this beautiful ring, that I did not think twice as I stood in line at the small pawnbroker downtown to do the inevitable.

I was about to pawn it.

That’s right. I walked up to the elderly Middle Eastern woman that stood behind the counter and asked her for her best offer.

The lady peered at me for a moment over her wire reading glasses, before stepping away to speak to her supervisor. I really was not in the mood for speculations, and I glared right back at her. My hazel colored eyes never blinking.

I knew that we were in Las Vegas, home of big dreams and huge losses. Land of gambling your rent money away, and spending all night at the neighborhood casino trying to flip it back. The city known for its connection of sin, and the motto of by any means necessary; but this situation was not the case.

I am far from being hard up for money. I do not harbor any typical addictions such as gambling, drinking, sex or smoking. I did not have to live by the rules of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

My kryptonite was on a totally different level. My addiction was Dale, and the heartbreak that he proposed on me on so many occasions. Getting rid of this ring was going to be the first step of my road to recovery, and I really didn’t care about what this old lady nor anyone felt or thought about what I was doing.

Pawning this ring was in the best interest of me.

Striving to establish a new flair to the term contemporary fiction, Best-Selling author Ni’cola Mitchell entered the literary scene with one main objective: To Stimulate Your Mind, One Word at a Time.

Through her independent publishing company NCM Publishing; Ni’cola published her debut novel entitled Over and Over Again in June 2009. Following on the heels of her debut’s critical acclaim, The Appetizer: When You’re Not His Main Course was released February 2010. Ni’cola’s growing readership eagerly awaits her next literary masterpiece Twisted, due out December 2010. Much of her work revolves around complex relationship issues situations and Mitchell’s compulsive desire to see women over come challenges.

Over and Over Again was featured in the top ten by EDC Creations Recommended Reading List for the 2009 fall season under Mainstream Fiction and Women’s Fiction. She was recently nominated Self-Published Author of the Year with the African-African Literary Awards Show. She is also a member of the national touring group the Literary Sistah’s.

Because of her outstanding representation of Las Vegas’ African-American community, she was featured in the second edition of Who’s Who in Black Las Vegas. Ni’cola is also a motivational speaker and literary consultant. When Ni’cola isn’t writing, she loves to spend time with her family and volunteer as a mentor for youth activities.

Originally from Kingston, Jamaica, Ni’cola Mitchell currently resides in North Las Vegas, Nevada, with her two daughters, Destani and Diamond. She holds a Bachelors degree of Science in Business Management and is currently pursuing a Masters of Business Administration in HealthCare Management.Get to Know Ni’Cola

1: Introduce yourself.

My name is Ni’cola Mitchell and I am originally from Kingston, Jamaica. I am a single mother of two daughters Destani age 16 and Diamond age 11. I am currently in graduate school, pursuing a degree in Healthcare Management. I am also a head coach of a youth football league cheer team.

2: Tell the audience about your new title Twisted.

The Appetizer is the direct sequel to my first novel Over and Over Again. Even though all of my stories are connecting, Twisted is centered around my main character Dionni Stone.

In Over and Over Again I described Dionni as being charismatic, goal oriented, and very sophisticated. Even though she had everything together on the outside, Dionni was not as successful in the area of love.

Her life was in so much turmoil, which in the end of the book sent Dionni on hiatus.

Several months later, Dionni finds out that her best friend has been beaten, raped, and left for dead which is why Dionni has to come back to Vegas to face her demons. Dionni has a new perspective on life and has come back with a vengeance sporting a new look and attitude. Trying to find out what happened to Tiana; Dionni is faced with a new set of tribulations that she has to face.

I brought back all of the original characters, including Candy, Dionni’s direct foe, and introduced Rain. A young beautiful woman, who’s main focus, is getting rid of Dionni by any means necessary.

This book is filled with so many twist and turns, that I could not believe that I wrote it. It will also explain the importance of not playing with a person’s heart and emotions. I can’t lie, Candy and Rain are both crazy, but Twisted gives the reader an explanation on how they each got that way.

3: Describe how you came up with the title?

Actually, my cousin came up with the title. She just finished reading Over and Over Again, and was like” wow…how that book ended, everyone had Dionni Twisted” in hence the name. So I would like to shout out Autumn for her creativity. 4: Who is the audience for your book? What would you like the readerto take away from your novel?

Men and women are both the audience for this book. I want readers to find entertainment while learning life lessons at the same time. I want people to understand and see first hand that there are always two sides to every story. This story will hit home on so many levels because we all know one of the characters in this book.

5: Twisted is your third novel, and an introduction topublishing. What are a few misconceptions you had about the publishing industry before your debut book? Have any of the misconceptions changed?

Over and Over Again was actually my introductory lesson in the publishing field. I learned a lot though from both of these projects. I knew that it was going to be a hard road, so I was actually prepared for the kinks that have been thrown at me. The only misconception that I had was that at some point it was going to get easier. I am faced with a different challenge everyday, but in essence I am always up to a good challenge as well.

The only thing that changed about my writing process is the speed. In writing Twisted, it took me six months from start to finish; vs. Over and Over Again that took a year.I try to start off every project in an outline form. I take the topic and use it as the foundation. Then I try to put in as many subtopics as possible. I do not write from beginning to end. I write whatever is in my heart.

7: What upcoming projects or plans do you have that you’d like to share?

Candy my villainess in Over and Over Again, has gained her own story, entitled Candy, and it will be out in the end of the year. Also I will be included into several anthologies.

NCM Publishing is also going to be very busy with the releases of God Don’t Like Ugly, by Rekaya Gibson, A Lil Sumthin, Sumthin, by Imani True and A Generation of Curses by Patricia Bridewell.

Striving to establish a new flair to the term contemporary fiction, Ni’cola Mitchell entered the literary scene with one main objective: To Stimulate Your Mind, One Word at a Time. Through her independent publishing company NCM Publishing; Ni’cola published her debut novel entitled OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Much of her work revolves around situations that are a compulsive desire to see women over come challenges. Her next novel THE APPETIZER, when you’re not his main course will be released February 2010.

Ni'cola Mitchell is originally from Kingston, Jamaica. Currently she resides in North Las Vegas, Nevada with her two daughters, Destani and Diamond. She holds a Bachelors degree of Science in Business Management and is currently pursuing a Masters of Business Administration in HealthCare Management.

Ni’cola is also a motivational speaker and consultant. Due to the fact that she is an outstanding representative of Las Vegas’ African-American community, she was selected to be featured in the second edition of Who’s Who in Black Las Vegas. Her novel Over and Over Again was also featured in the top ten by EDC Creations Recommended Reading List for the 2009 fall season under Mainstream Fiction and Women’s Fiction. She is also a member of the national touring group the Literary Sistah’s. When Ni'cola isn't writing, she loves to spend time with her family and volunteer as a mentor for youth activities.

Synopsis:

Three girlfriends with totally different lives; or so they think.

Yazmin

Yazmin and Trey have been together for five years. Yazmin enjoys her life as a stay at home wifey. The couple is also expecting twins. Their life could not have been any more picture perfect, until the day Yazmin was involved in a hit and run accident. Scared for the life of her babies, Yazmin almost goes into shock after she attempts to call Trey, only to be greeted by his wife of the past ten years.

Monae

Monae and Malik have had a drama free long distance relationship for the last two years. Malik is a Marine, and is stationed in San Diego. They both have an understanding that once Monae graduates from UCLA, they will have their dream wedding. While planning an intimate surprise party for two in his apartment, Monae discovers that she is not the only one waiting for “her” man to come home.Nia

Devaugn is in a relationship, but Nia simply doesn’t care. He is the ideal man, and Nia is convinced that if she works hard enough, she can show him that she is all the woman he needs. Stephanie will be a thing of the past and Devaugn can start taking care of Nia and her three children full time. Or will he?

These three friends all have one thing in common; they are their man’s chick on the side. What happens when a woman finds out she is not her man’s main course? But only his appetizer.

Interviews:

1. Are your characters from the portrayal of real people? What inspired you to write this story?All my characters are fictional, but I did take situations, mannerisms, and characteristics from real life people to create them.

2. What are THREE adjectives that best describe OVER AND OVER AGAIN? Emotional, suspenseful, hilarious

3. What are THREE adjectives that best describe YOU?

Intelligent, beautiful, hard worker

4. What issues in today's society have you addressed in the book?

I addressed many issues in this book such as infidelity, deceit, low moral and self worth, sex, lies, relationships, friendship, betrayal, and single mothers.

5. NI'COLA: THE SOUNDTRACK. What are three tracks that would HAVE to make it onto the soundtrack of your life and why?

The first song would be Beauty, by Dru Hill. I believe Beauty comes from the inside. I will do anything for anyone. I go the extra mile at all times. One thing that I am complimented on is how well I treat others. I believe those attributes is what makes a person beautiful.

The second would be No More Rain (In this cloud) by Angie Stone. Just like anyone else in life, I have been through a plethora of trials and tribulations. I had to decide that I was going to be stop letting life harbor me, and press forward. So I consider the cloud me and my life, and I had to learn to stop crying and start living up to the potential that I know that I have. I’m only half way there though. The storm tends to come, but I do not allow for the rain to develop.

The last song would be Queen of the pack by Patra. Being from Jamaica, I know all about struggle. But I had to let people know that I am not accepting anything. The song compares life to a pack of cards. It basically states that I am telling you what I am about, and I am not going back on my word. What ever life brings, I will come out on top, and be the Queen of the pack. I make my own destiny, so you better watch out.

6. What is your most valuable lesson about the publishing industry? That if you stay grounded, focused, and believe in your self, you can put out a successful book that can hold its own among other works in your genre.

7. You're strutting down the street - not a care in the world, looking like a million bucks; what is your theme song and why?

My theme song would be Everyday I’m hustling by Rick Ross. The title speaks for itself

Contact Us For More Information

Hello, my name is Debra Owsley and my company is Simply Said Reading Accessories. I custom design and hand make reading accessories such as “Gift Marks” also known as Bookmarks, Book Thongs, Book Plates and note cards that I call Love Notes; for Authors Book Stores Book Clubs and Book Lovers.

This is what I do, but…it’s all about youI have been perfecting my craft for a little over 4 years as a specialty service. As an avid reader, I had to find a way to support my “Book Habit”; I have always been crafty and made some for my clients one year for Christmas, I am a hair stylist, and they encouraged me to pursue this as a business.

I also have a client who is an author and she commissioned me to custom some for her, thus the Authors Custom Work came in. I attend several major book events a year and I can proudly say that my work is appreciated by some of the finest authors, in the industry.

Book lovers can enjoy my work too! Check out my booklovers gift shop to view pre-designed selections. I love to create and make the “Giftmarks”, and Book Thongs. I have hundreds of different designs, all have wonderful quotes, sayings, or phases that speaks to you. View the catalogs here.